5 VERB If an unpleasant physical or emotional experience scars you, it has a permanent effect on your mind. □ [V n] This is something that's going to scar him forever.
scarce /skeə r s/ (scarcer , scarcest )
1 ADJ [usu v-link ADJ ] If something is scarce , there is not enough of it. □ Food was scarce and expensive. □ …the allocation of scarce resources.
2 PHRASE If you make yourself scarce , you quickly leave the place you are in, usually in order to avoid a difficult or embarrassing situation. [INFORMAL ] □ It probably would be a good idea if you made yourself scarce.
scarce|ly /skeə r sli/
1 ADV [ADV before v] You use scarcely to emphasize that something is only just true or only just the case. [EMPHASIS ] □ He could scarcely breathe. □ I scarcely knew him. □ He was scarcely more than a boy.
2 ADV [ADV before v] You can use scarcely to say that something is not true or is not the case, in a humorous or critical way. □ It can scarcely be coincidence.
3 ADV [ADV before v] If you say scarcely had one thing happened when something else happened, you mean that the first event was followed immediately by the second. □ Scarcely had they left before soldiers arrived armed with rifles.
scar|city /skeə r s I ti/ (scarcities ) N‑VAR If there is a scarcity of something, there is not enough of it for the people who need it or want it. [FORMAL ] □ [+ of ] …an ever-increasing scarcity of water.
scare /skeə r / (scares , scaring , scared )
1 VERB If something scares you, it frightens or worries you. □ [V n] You're scaring me. □ [V n adj] The prospect of failure scares me rigid. □ [V n to-inf] It scared him to realise how close he had come to losing everything. ● PHRASE If you want to emphasize that something scares you a lot, you can say that it scares the hell out of you or scares the life out of you. [INFORMAL , EMPHASIS ]
2 N‑SING If a sudden unpleasant experience gives you a scare , it frightens you. □ Don't you realize what a scare you've given us all? □ We got a bit of a scare.
3 N‑COUNT [oft n N ] A scare is a situation in which many people are afraid or worried because they think something dangerous is happening which will affect them all. □ He's had a prostate cancer scare.
4 N‑COUNT [usu n N ] A bomb scare or a security scare is a situation in which there is believed to be a bomb in a place. □ Despite many recent bomb scares, no one has yet been hurt.
5 → see also scared
▸ scare away → see scare off 1
▸ scare off
1 PHRASAL VERB If you scare off or scare away a person or animal, you frighten them so that they go away. □ [V P n] …an alarm to scare off an attacker. □ [V n P ] …the problem of scaring birds away from airport runways.
2 PHRASAL VERB If you scare someone off , you accidentally make them unwilling to become involved with you. □ [V n P ] I don't think that revealing your past to your boyfriend scared him off. □ [V P n] The new Democratic Party is not likely to scare off voters.
▸ scare up PHRASAL VERB If you scare up something, you provide, produce, or obtain it, often when it is difficult to do so or when you do not have many resources. [mainly AM , INFORMAL ] □ [V P n] An all-star game might scare up a little interest.
scare|crow /skeə r kroʊ/ (scarecrows ) N‑COUNT A scarecrow is an object in the shape of a person, which is put in a field where crops are growing in order to frighten birds away.
scared /skeə r d/
1 ADJ [usu v-link ADJ , ADJ to-inf] If you are scared of someone or something, you are frightened of them. □ [+ of ] I'm certainly not scared of him. □ I was too scared to move. □ Why are you so scared?
2 ADJ [usu v-link ADJ , oft ADJ that] If you are scared that something unpleasant might happen, you are nervous and worried because you think that it might happen. □ I was scared that I might be sick. □ [+ of ] He was scared of letting us down.
scare|monger|ing /skeə r mʌŋgər I ŋ/ N‑UNCOUNT If one person or group accuses another person or group of scaremongering , they accuse them of deliberately spreading worrying stories to try and frighten people. □ The Government yesterday accused Greenpeace of scaremongering.
sca re sto|ry (scare stories ) N‑COUNT A scare story is something that is said or written to make people feel frightened and think that a situation is much more unpleasant or dangerous than it really is. □ He described talk of sackings as scare stories.
scarf /skɑː r f/ (scarfs or scarves ) N‑COUNT A scarf is a piece of cloth that you wear round your neck or head, usually to keep yourself warm. □ He reached up to loosen the scarf around his neck.
scar|let /skɑː r lət/ (scarlets ) COLOUR Something that is scarlet is bright red. □ …her scarlet lipstick.
sca r|let fe |ver N‑UNCOUNT Scarlet fever is an infectious disease which gives you a painful throat, a high temperature, and red spots on your skin.
scarp|er /skɑː r pə r / (scarpers , scarpering , scarpered ) VERB If someone scarpers , they leave a place quickly. [BRIT , INFORMAL ] □ [V ] Onlookers called 999 but the group had scarpered by the time cops arrived.
-scarred /-skɑː r d/